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fluentbyear

GERMAN VERB

bestimmen

to determine, to decide

  • #442 most used
  • Weak verb
  • Past participle: bestimmt

Conjugation

Tap any form to hear it. The part that changes is in colour.

Present

Präsens · now, habits and facts

  1. ich I determine
  2. du you determine
  3. er, sie, es he/she determines
  4. wir we determine
  5. ihr you all determine
  6. sie, Sie they determine

Simple past

Präteritum · the past of writing, and of sein, haben and the modals in speech

  1. ich I determined
  2. du you determined
  3. er, sie, es he/she determined
  4. wir we determined
  5. ihr you all determined
  6. sie, Sie they determined

Perfect

Perfekt · the past of speech: “habe gemacht”

  1. ich I have determined
  2. du you have determined
  3. er, sie, es he/she has determined
  4. wir we have determined
  5. ihr you all have determined
  6. sie, Sie they have determined

Future

Futur I · “werden”; in speech the present with “morgen” does the job

  1. ich I will determine
  2. du you will determine
  3. er, sie, es he/she will determine
  4. wir we will determine
  5. ihr you all will determine
  6. sie, Sie they will determine

Conditional

Konjunktiv II · “would”: “würde”, and “wäre”, “hätte”, “könnte”

  1. ich I would determine
  2. du you would determine
  3. er, sie, es he/she would determine
  4. wir we would determine
  5. ihr you all would determine
  6. sie, Sie they would determine

Imperative

Imperativ · requests and orders: du, ihr, Sie

  1. du determine!
  2. ihr determine! (all of you)
  3. Sie determine! (formal)

How to use bestimmen

One sentence for each tense, the way people say it.

  1. Present

    Heute bestimmst du, was wir essen.

    Today you decide what we eat.

  2. Simple past

    Der Chef bestimmte den Termin ganz allein.

    The boss set the date all by himself.

  3. Perfect

    Wer hat das eigentlich bestimmt?

    Who actually decided that?

  4. Future

    Das Wetter wird bestimmen, ob wir wandern.

    The weather will determine whether we go hiking.

  5. Conditional

    Ich würde lieber selbst bestimmen, wann ich arbeite.

    I'd rather decide myself when I work.

  6. Imperative

    Bestimm du, ich bin mit allem einverstanden.

    You decide, I'm fine with anything.

Good to know

  • Bestimmen is to decide with authority: du bestimmst, you're the boss. For making up your own mind, sich entscheiden is more common.

Verbs like this one

The same pattern, on other verbs: weak verb.